I’ve been thinking about workplace complacency and injuries a lot the last few weeks. Maybe because we are in the holiday season and injuries around this time of year are emotionally devastating. It seems that really bad accidents are highlighted by the extreme sadness felt by our loved ones. But for me, complacency at work, or even away from it, provides a reason for us to look deeper at the way we lead.
Here’s a few tips and tactics to help diminish complacency, especially among your workers.
1. Discuss the importance of using hazard and risk assessments with greater focus and rigor.
2. Slow the work down with more timeouts – giving all of your workers time to discuss concerns.
3. Talk and work through new or higher risk jobs before the work begins.
4. Build a higher degree of consensus before starting various work activities.
5. Help your workers pay attention to the right things by being very clear and concise about the hazards
and risks they are working around.
6. Tell stories about lessons learned from the past that can keep them safer.
7. Help to align your personal values with every day actions so your workers realize that all this safety stuff is really
about them!
Have a great Christmas and Happy New Year and I hope to work with you in 2022!!!
Here’s a recent set of testimonials from a keynote I delivered in Saratoga Springs, NY: